LAUMELLUM
LAUMELLUM (
Λαύμελλον,
Ptol. 3.1.36:
Lomello), a town of Gallia Transpadana, not mentioned by Pliny, but placed by Ptolemy, together with Vercellae, in the territory of the Libici. The Itin. Ant. (pp. 282, 347) places it on the road from Ticinum to Vercellae, at 22 M. P. from the former and 26 from the latter city: these distances agree well with the position of
Lomello, a small town on the right bank of the
Agogna, about 10 miles from its confluence with the
Po. According to the same Itinerary (p. 340) another road led from thence by Rigomagus and Quadratae to Augustae Taurinorun, and in accordance with this Ammianus Marcellinus (
15.8.18) mentions Laumellum as on the direct road from Ticinum to Taurini.
It seems not to have enjoyed municipal rank in the time of Pliny, but apparently became a place of more consideration in later days, and under the Lombard rule was a town of importance, as it continued during the middle ages; so that, though now but a poor decayed place, it still gives to the surrounding district the name of
Lumellina. [
E.H.B]